Viewing page 3 of 10

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Transcription: {SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:07:24]
I would go over there and they would give me a little job peeling potatoes or working in the flower garden. Their Parings bought my school clothes.
[00:07:32]
They carried me to New York for vacation when I was a child. I was small and I had to stand on a stool and do the dishes.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:07:41]
Are the Parins still living?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
No, they're dead.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:07:44]
Ok. What other jobs have you had?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Cooking.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:07:49]
For whom?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
For the Parings and then - I left the Parings and then I went to Oyster House in '49 and I worked White Sand cooking.
[00:08:04]
I worked up at the forty - up to the route six - route eighty! In Oysters from Lores to then.
[00:08:14]
And then I went to the power plant. And I cooked there until I retired.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
You retired from the power plant?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:08:25]
I retired from the power plant but I'm still shucking oysters and clams.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:08:29]
Ok, and you started shucking oysters in 49'?
[telephone interrupts]
[00:08:35]
OK, You say you worked for Lores, how long did you work for them?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
I worked for Lore, I started working for Lore around - in the 60's or 70's.
[00:08:53]
And I worked there until Lore went out of business. And then I went in cooking.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:08:59]
For whom?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
For Frying Pan, White Sand, and then to the plant. And when I finished at the plant, I went back into oysters at Denty.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:09:14]
Who owned Lore's?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:09:17]
Lore owned it himself.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
What's his first name?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Joe Lore.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:09:21]
And you started at Denton, in what year?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
'49.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Ok. Was this just to supplement your income, or was this your regular job?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:09:32]
It was my regular job at that time. It was only part time work from September to March, and then I was in White Sand cooking until the Oyster House opened up again.
[00:09:44]
Then I went back September to March, I think.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:09:48]
When you first started with Denton, who was the owner?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Warren Denton.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:09:53]
And when you went back the second time? Was it still Denton or was it under new management?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Under new management.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:10:00]
And who was the new manager?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Normon Durell.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
Durell, ok.
[00:10:05]
How did you learn how to shuck oysters? Who taught you how to shuck oysters?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Some of the old shuckers. Lot Door, Harrion, and Berndeen Bean, I watched him shuck.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:10:21]
How long did it take you to get the hang of it, to catch on?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:10:26]
I'd say quite a while. Maybe a month, then I got to shuck like everyone else.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:10:36]
Who first told you about shucking oysters? How did you learn about it?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:10:42]
Well I grew right up with the Oyster House right down below me. Soller's Oyster House. When I was a child going to school, that Oyster House was open and I used to meet the workers going and coming, when I was going to school.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:10:54]
How many oyster house is there in the area?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
There's only one.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:10:59]
And when you first started, how many was there?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
There was two.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:11:04]
What had you heard about the Oyster House before you started there?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:11:08]
I heard that it, I could make more money than I could working for the Parins cooking.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:11:16]
Is there a difference on how the owners treat the women opposed to the men or is there no difference?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:11:24]
No difference.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[[clearing throat]] Excuse me. What about the hourly wages, is it the same for women and men?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:11:30]
Yes.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
The workers, what is their racial makeup?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:11:36]
Now it. First it was all black. We may had, maybe but three or four white. When I first started there was a hundred oyster shuckers, and then as the years went by, they got all black, and now it is mostly Mexicans.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:11:59]
What is it like working with the Mexicans?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:12:01]
Fine. I just learned to speak their language.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:12:05]
So can you understand what they're saying or - ?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
[00:12:08]
Some things, some can speak English, yes. Um, and when I don't understand I'm trying to speak Spanish, you know, 'comprende', I don't know what they're saying.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:12:22]
OK. So what's the atmosphere like at the Oyster House?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
It's very nice. It's nice. It's very nice. We get along together nice.
{SPEAKER name="Shelia Montague Parker"}
[00:12:32]
Ok. About how many Black workers are there now?
{SPEAKER name="Mary Dawkins "}
Oh, it may be

Transcription Notes:
Parings? or Parrins as on previous transcript? J.C. Lore Oyster House in Maryland??